Sampaguita Roots is the story of Cheryl Socorro – a Filipina American who harbors no connection to her family’s origins in the Philippines. After her mother’s death, she travels back to the motherland in fulfillment of her mother’s dying wish for Cheryl to find her father. While she considers such an undertaking a chore, Cheryl soon finds herself developing a connection to her family’s struggles, with the help of her aunt Precious, and a housekeeper named Paulo who assists her in reading a series of old letters, detailing the ways in which Cheryl’s family has been touched and changed in times of war, struggle, and loss.

The book is an entirely freelance, self-published effort, with freelance editing and internal design, and cover design by Manila graphic designer Obey Llamas. The author, Victoria Conlu, is a nursing student and proud Filipina who was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She hopes that through her writing, she can reach out to the younger Pinoy and Pinay communities to encourage them to forge stronger connections to their Filipino heritage. As a child growing up in a multi-generational, Tagalog-speaking household, she grew up considering herself first and foremost a Filipino, despite being born in the United States.